left 4 dead – VG247http://www.vg247.com
VG247.comFri, 09 Dec 2016 21:47:52 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.5.3Left 4 Dead’s final campaign released by Turtle Rockhttp://www.vg247.com/2016/11/07/left-4-deads-final-campaign-released-by-turtle-rock/
http://www.vg247.com/2016/11/07/left-4-deads-final-campaign-released-by-turtle-rock/#respondMon, 07 Nov 2016 08:29:48 +0000https://www.vg247.com/?p=607226It’s unfinished but you can play it right now.

Turtle Rock has released the final campaign for Left 4 Dead. Initiate rejoicing.

Dam It is the “last Left4Dead campaign that was never finished, along with a couple survival maps that never shipped. Dam It stitches Dead Air and Blood Harvest together.”

Turtle Rock’s Chris Ashton posted the news on the studio’s forum last week saying, “Just finished putting the Dam campaign that we streamed a while back into a L4D addon. It’s gray box, and some code features are missing but it’s playable from beginning to end. It also includes two standalone survival maps that never shipped.”

So if you’re on PC, have at it, you lucky ducks.

Bear in mind that the missing code means that some of the features won’t be working. Here’s a list of the known issues:

Fire, smoke and explosions do not trigger panic events in the hangars.

Zombies do not crawl all the time in the orchard.

Farm house mob does not spawn in the far side of the woods.

Covered bridge does not collapse with explosions.

Burned forest area is missing wandering fires.

All you need is a copy of Left 4 Dead and you can download it now. Have fun!

Left 4 Dead, Portal 2 added to Xbox One backwards compatibility

Some good news today Xbox One customers looking to play their 360 classics – Major Nelson has confirmed the addition of several backwards compatible titles. Among them are Valve’s Left 4 Dead and Portal 2, each released well before the current console generation.

If those particular games don’t interest you, the Xbox 360 editions of Flashback, Babel Rising, and Brain Challenge also saw updates today. Each of these games is featured on this backwards compatibility list.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2016/06/16/left-4-dead-portal-2-added-to-xbox-one-backwards-compatibility/feed/0Red Dead Redemption is now backward compatible on Xbox Onehttp://www.vg247.com/2016/02/06/red-dead-redemption-listed-as-backward-compatible-on-xbox-one-report/
http://www.vg247.com/2016/02/06/red-dead-redemption-listed-as-backward-compatible-on-xbox-one-report/#respondSat, 06 Feb 2016 22:40:05 +0000https://www.vg247.com/?p=568715Surprise! Red Dead Redemption is backward compatible on Xbox One now. And guess what? Halo Wars, Left 4 Dead and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night are on the way too it seems, and it appears Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is also playable.

According to Xboxyen, the Rockstar Games western is now able to be played on Xbox One; however, the site notes their disc isn’t working with the feature just yet – only the digital version of the game. So, it may just be a matter of time before the Xbox 360 disc is recognized.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2016/02/06/red-dead-redemption-listed-as-backward-compatible-on-xbox-one-report/feed/0Left 4 Dead cast added to Zombie Army Trilogy as free updatehttp://www.vg247.com/2015/08/20/left-4-dead-zombie-army-trilogy-pc/
http://www.vg247.com/2015/08/20/left-4-dead-zombie-army-trilogy-pc/#respondThu, 20 Aug 2015 19:44:18 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=543692The entire cast of the Left 4 Dead games are now available to play in Zombie Army Trilogy and it’s a free update.

“I can tell you that without the original Turtle Rock team, Left 4 Dead never would have happened,” he said. “It’s our creation, we gave birth to it. That is not in any way to diminish Valve’s contribution to the game – they had a huge contribution. Those guys are smart, they know their shit.

“They were really good sort-of mentors for us. When you’re in with those guys, we were always able to take our ideas and throw them at them and see what they thought.”

According to Robb, the idea for Evolve was in the making before Left 4 Dead.

“It actually pre-dates Left 4 Dead,” he said. “We were talking about this idea before Left 4 Dead was anything, before we even thought of Left 4 Dead.

“Left 4 Dead almost came about just from watching the community and watching what people were doing, whereas this was an idea where we were really like, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if…’

“[But] this is the point where Turtle Rock proves that we are our own independent entity.”

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2014/02/12/left-4-dead-never-would-have-happened-without-turtle-rock-says-co-founder/feed/1Team Fortress 2, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead Steam Library issues fix availablehttp://www.vg247.com/2014/01/22/team-fortress-2-half-life-left-4-dead-steam-library-issues-fix-available/
http://www.vg247.com/2014/01/22/team-fortress-2-half-life-left-4-dead-steam-library-issues-fix-available/#respondWed, 22 Jan 2014 23:46:08 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=442502Noticed some weird happenings in your Steam Library today? Some users have reported a strange error where the game labelled “Team Fortress 2” is actually Left 4 Dead, and vice versa. The issue only seems to apply to Valve-developed games, and doesn’t seem to cause any major problems, but Valve has suggested a pretty simple fix which may resolve it for you.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2014/01/22/team-fortress-2-half-life-left-4-dead-steam-library-issues-fix-available/feed/0Left 4 Dead beta Francis available now, mod tools updatedhttp://www.vg247.com/2013/08/20/left-4-dead-beta-francis-available-now-mod-tools-updated/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/08/20/left-4-dead-beta-francis-available-now-mod-tools-updated/#respondTue, 20 Aug 2013 05:59:46 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=399564Valve has dug out old Turtle Rock version of the original Left 4 Dead, and has released the beta version of Francis as a mod.

Valve bought Turtle Rock Studios while it was developing Left 4 Dead; the team has since gone indie again. This version of Francis dates back to pre-acquisition days, and you can grab him from Steam Workshop for use in Left 4 Dead 2. In a post on the game’s blog, Valve said it can’t promise it will release the other characters, but will give it a go.

Francis is enabled by an update to Left 4 Dead 2 which is mainly in support of modders – in fact, Valve invited one prominent modder to work in its offices for a few months in order to help it develop better tools. This initiative has now borne fruit, with a number of useful updates including:

Starter Kits: • These are Zip files which include all the compiling files (Reference/Animation DMXs, Reference/Animation SMDs, QCs, and the VTA Morphs) used to create each Item, Weapon, Special Infected, and Survivor. In addition to providing a useful reference, these kits allow modders to start with a fully functional asset and then replace pieces incrementally instead of starting from scratch.

Maya Files: These are the skeleton rigs that are used for each Item, Weapon, Special Infected, and Survivor. These allow modders to replace a model by attaching a new custom mesh skinned to the rig. Also included are all the animation scenes for the Items, Weapons, and Special Infected.

Tutorials: In order to compile model files from SMDs and DMX, people will need to setup the SOURCE SDK TOOLS. This tutorial will show people how to set everything up and how to address issues and fix them.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/08/20/left-4-dead-beta-francis-available-now-mod-tools-updated/feed/0Left 4 Dead 2 Linux beta build is livehttp://www.vg247.com/2013/05/04/left-4-dead-2-linux-beta-build-is-live/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/05/04/left-4-dead-2-linux-beta-build-is-live/#commentsSat, 04 May 2013 14:34:17 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=363955As promised earlier this week, the Left 4 Dead 2 Linux beta is live. The beta build allows Linux owners to play the game natively, and comes with the new Extended Mutation System. Those who currently own Left 4 Dead 2 will see the beta in their Steam library, and the complete game comes with authoring tools and the beta Dedicated Server. It also includes updated Windows and Mac clients, so even if you are not running under Linux you can help by testing the Beta. Further information can be found through the link to the L4D Blog.
]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/05/04/left-4-dead-2-linux-beta-build-is-live/feed/1Helm’s Deep Reborn map added to official Left 4 Dead 2 servershttp://www.vg247.com/2013/02/23/helm%e2%80%99s-deep-reborn-map-added-to-official-left-4-dead-2-servers/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/02/23/helm%e2%80%99s-deep-reborn-map-added-to-official-left-4-dead-2-servers/#commentsSat, 23 Feb 2013 20:29:55 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=343095Valve has added the Steam Workshop created Helm’s Deep Reborn map to the official Left 4 Dead 2 servers, alongside an update which fixes an issue with dedicated servers and workshop content. The map, as you’ve already figured out, adds Helm’s Deep from Lord of the Rings to the zombie shooter. It sounds kookie enough to make me want to try it despite being horrible at L4D2. Have a look at the map for yourself through here. Thanks, D’toid.
]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/02/23/helm%e2%80%99s-deep-reborn-map-added-to-official-left-4-dead-2-servers/feed/1XBLA CyberMonday deals add Expendables 2, Gotham City Imposters, L4D DLC discounthttp://www.vg247.com/2012/11/26/xbla-cybermonday-deals-add-expendables-2-gotham-city-imposters-l4d-dlc-discount/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/11/26/xbla-cybermonday-deals-add-expendables-2-gotham-city-imposters-l4d-dlc-discount/#commentsMon, 26 Nov 2012 11:00:40 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=318548Xbox Live’s ‘CyberMonday’ deals continue this week with a new batch of digital savings including Expandables 2, Gotham City Imposters, Shadow Complex and Left 4 Dead’s Cold Stream DLC. Check out the sale below.

Microsoft’s Major Nelson posted the deals on this blog, cutting some prices clean in half for today only. Here are the deals:

See anything you like?

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/11/26/xbla-cybermonday-deals-add-expendables-2-gotham-city-imposters-l4d-dlc-discount/feed/10Gabe Newell announced as next Academy of Interactive Arts and Science Hall of Fame inducteehttp://www.vg247.com/2012/11/15/gabe-newell-announced-as-next-academy-of-interactive-arts-and-science-hall-of-fame-inductee/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/11/15/gabe-newell-announced-as-next-academy-of-interactive-arts-and-science-hall-of-fame-inductee/#commentsThu, 15 Nov 2012 15:14:51 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=316208The Academy of Interactive Arts and Science has announced Gabe Newell will be the 17th inductee into the AIAS Hall of Fame. Valve’s co-founder and president will also headline the D.I.C.E. 2013 Summit stage as Thursday conference keynote speaker.

Newell’s influence can be felt across the gaming spectrum. His leadership has helped develop the Source engine, Steam, and plenty of key franchises. If you haven’t played Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Left 4 Dead, Portal and Team Fortress, you should do right now.

The AIAS honor is given to individuals who have contributed to pushing genres forward with influential products. Newell will receive his award from Epic Games president Dr. Michael Capps, who serves on the AIAS board of directors and the AIAS awards committee.

“Gabe is a living legend of the video games industry, and his relentless focus on customer experience has made our whole industry a better place,” said Capps. “Valve’s unconventional success is an inspiration for us all, and I couldn’t be more pleased to present Gabe’s Hall of Fame award.”

Other figures of authority also had plenty of praise for Newell.

“Gabe is one of the most cherished and respected figures in the industry not only for his technological innovations in advancing many of today’s highly successful video games, but also for his unique stance towards leadership and management,” said Martin Rae, president, Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.

The 16th D.I.C.E. Awards will take place February 7, 2013, at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/11/15/gabe-newell-announced-as-next-academy-of-interactive-arts-and-science-hall-of-fame-inductee/feed/3Left 4 Dead 2 user-created campaign Warcelona available; L4D2 Workshop in test betahttp://www.vg247.com/2012/11/10/left-4-dead-2-user-created-campaign-warcelona-available-l4d2-workshop-in-test-beta/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/11/10/left-4-dead-2-user-created-campaign-warcelona-available-l4d2-workshop-in-test-beta/#commentsSat, 10 Nov 2012 20:18:25 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=315031Warcelona, the fan-made campaign for Left 4 Dead 2, is now available for download. The campaign’s four maps recreate the route between the Sant Roc church and the National Art Museum of Catalonia in Barcelona. As PC Gamer notes, installing the campaign is a bit “complex at the moment,” but all complexities for such content will be alleviated once the Left 4 Dead 2 Workshop beta has finished, and becomes available to the public. The Left 4 Dead 2 Workshop, currently in test beta, will be expanded into an invite only private beta soon. Get more information on the beta and instructions on how to download Warcelona through the L4D Blog. A video for the campaign is below.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/11/10/left-4-dead-2-user-created-campaign-warcelona-available-l4d2-workshop-in-test-beta/feed/4Left 4 Dead 2: user-created Back to School campaign available todayhttp://www.vg247.com/2012/10/31/left-4-dead-2-user-created-back-to-school-campaign-available-today/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/10/31/left-4-dead-2-user-created-back-to-school-campaign-available-today/#commentsWed, 31 Oct 2012 18:45:34 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=312027After three years in development, the fan-made Back to School campaign for Left 4 Dead 2 is finally available for download. You can head on over to the dev team’s ModDB page to pick it up for yourself now, but you should probably watch the kinda completely awesome trailer they’ve released for their work first. Check it below.

According to the download page, the campaign is described as follows:

“Back to School is a full featured Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 campaign. The storyline is not interfere with none of this games and offer completly new setting of Borden city, struggling to survive in an epidemic apocalypse alongside with original 4 heroes. They are getting a chance to save themselves, since USA marines are coming in town and not falling back this time. But during the battle apogee something goes terribly wrong and local school – the most safe place in city – turns out to be a death trap.”

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/10/31/left-4-dead-2-user-created-back-to-school-campaign-available-today/feed/2Left 4 Dead 2 is free-to-play this weekendhttp://www.vg247.com/2012/10/24/left-4-dead-2-is-free-to-play-this-weekend/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/10/24/left-4-dead-2-is-free-to-play-this-weekend/#respondWed, 24 Oct 2012 19:47:53 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=310078Left 4 Dead 2 will be free-to-play this weekend, starting tomorrow, October 25. New players can start pre-loading the game now on Steam, and current players will be the recipients of a new achievemen called Good Guy Nick. The free-to-play weened ends October 29 at 10.00am PDT/1.00pm EDT. Thanks, Game Informer.
]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/10/24/left-4-dead-2-is-free-to-play-this-weekend/feed/0Left 4 Dead 3 could happen ‘some time down the road’ – Faliszekhttp://www.vg247.com/2012/10/01/left-4-dead-3-could-happen-some-time-down-the-road-faliszek/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/10/01/left-4-dead-3-could-happen-some-time-down-the-road-faliszek/#commentsMon, 01 Oct 2012 10:21:54 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=302238Left 4 Dead 3 could happen according to Valve’s Chet Faliszek, although don’t go expecting anything soon, or at all.

Speaking with Eurogamer, Faliszek was quizzed on the likelihood of Left for Dead 3.

“A 3? You know, some time down the road,” he theorised, “Like anything, I would say that to all of our games. So that’s not a promise of when or where. I really love working on that series. It’s one of my favourite series. It’s just so much fun with the characters and the world. I love zombies and I love horror. So, yeah.”

Valve is currently incorporating Steam Workshop into Left 4 Dead on PC, which will give players the option to craft new outfits for characters, whole new game modes and more.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/10/01/left-4-dead-3-could-happen-some-time-down-the-road-faliszek/feed/4Valve interview: ‘I just told Gabe he was full of shit’http://www.vg247.com/2012/09/28/valve-interview-i-just-told-gabe-he-was-full-of-shit/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/09/28/valve-interview-i-just-told-gabe-he-was-full-of-shit/#commentsFri, 28 Sep 2012 17:52:08 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=301829Valve has its eye firmly on the future of gaming. VG247’s Dave Cook spoke to Chet Faliszek about where all of this is heading.

It’s no secret that Valve is a busy studio with fingers in many pies. It’s an anomaly ruled by no-one, free from the shackles of publisher ownership, and willing to venture into the unknown. It experiments, innovates, iterates and forms opinion across the industry. It’s an inspiration to many.

But It’s also a mystery to many people. How does it work? What will it do next? Why does it operate according to such strange and unique ideologies when its competitors are doing something else?

We wanted to blow the doors off all of those big questions, so VG247 had a chat with Chet Faliszek, a long-time member of the Valve family, and a man who firmly believes that you, yes you reading these words, can do what Valve does. You just need to try something wild.

VG247: Valve has revealed many new innovations lately. Is this a bid to get a head-start on the next generation?

Chet Faliszek: It’s more that we just keep working. We just keep looking at what we want to work on, and it just so happens that we announced a lot things stacked together. We’re doing DotA 2 soon, CS:GO just came out, and yeah we just keep going.

When the Valve employee handbook leaked online, it was just fascinating to see your approach to those kind of developments. Is your methodology honestly that open and free?

There’s that thing where we appear to be a mystery, especially the fact that the book states we have no managers. But really, everyone is your manager. That means anyone is able to come up to you and say, ‘what are you doing? Why are you doing this?’

You have to be able to talk about that too, and it’s really important that you have the skills to talk about what’s going on. You have to be able to explain because people will question, there is no keeping secrets from each other and there has to be discussion and explanation between people.

Everyone’s allowed to know what’s going on with everything else, because all of our things tie together. I mean, I did a talk today about education and how to get into the games industry.

When we did our Portal 2 educational stuff, for some reason that meant everyone started fielding questions to Leslie Redd – who was in charge of that – about how to get into school and start in the game industry.

So I did these talks and started talking about it like, ‘if you want to make something, make something.’ People send me emails about how to start game writing, but it’s just like, anyone can do it, so we’ve started talking about that more.

When it comes to have Valve has made stuff, we just put things together and do it. There are other ways to do things, and we should be helping people understand how to do that because we want more people to start making games.

That’s something Valve has always done well, spotting talent and acquiring people. is that talent pool getting bigger and more visible thanks to people having easier routes to market. I’m thinking Kickstarter, iOS and other areas of the market.

We talk a lot about that and of course you can make things in Steam Workshop. People laugh when I say that, but it’s like, people have earned six-figure incomes by doing that. We’ve given millions of dollars to people, so that’s a viable way to go about getting into the games industry.

Then of course the indie scene – what’s happening there right now is powerful, because it’s giving so many people opportunities, and fuelling more people to do that.

There’s also Greenlight which can be a useful way for indies to get their games to market. Where did that idea come from?

That just came out of a necessity as we were getting very backlogged with requests. It’s hard because we never know if we’re making a bad choice or not in accepting games on to Steam.

If someone wants to be on Steam they can say, ‘hey guys check this game out, it really should be on Steam, it’s awesome.’ We’re always going to be missing things when people aren’t submitting their games but should be, so Greenlight just makes it a very open choice as it’s the community that decides.

You also revealed Steam Big Picture mode recently. Do you see bringing games into the living room via TV streaming as the next logical step for the industry moving forward?

It is for some people. For some people it’s definitely the way, and it was interesting to watch people react t that reveal, because a lot of people already play PC games on their TV. But they have to realise that it’s all about the software, and the integration of that, not just the ability to play on a bigger screen. It’s interesting and we’ll keep on iterating it.

It’s timely because now there is a lot of talk about the generation after next, where physical consoles will no longer be boxes, they will be services that are streamed or subscribed to. What’s your take on that?

I don’t know, I mean it’s hard. There’s definitely people at Valve thinking about that kind of stuff, but I’ve kind of just had my head down on the other side of things. So yeah, sorry I couldn’t give you more of an answer on that one.

Not a problem. Players must have given you some good feedback during the Big Picture beta an the idea of streamed services? How will that feedback dictate when the mode launches in full?

I talk to that team a little bit. I don’t know exactly how that process is going, or how they’re judging progress.

Just going back to Greenlight for a second, the idea of crowd funding, community votes, Kickstarter and other collaborative methods have really taken off recently. I know Gabe is a big fan of that idea, but what’s your take on that scene?

I’ve funded a lot of things on Kickstarter. I figure 60% of these projects will actually create something by the end, and I’m fine with that. It’s going to be interesting for projects that take a long time, for teams that aren’t as experienced, seeing what people think, and to see what’s going to happen two or three years from now.

Are they actually going to deliver and come through with it? So yeah, that will be interesting to see. But I do hope that it maintains being a viable way, because I love being able to see people saying, ‘yeah, I’m just going to do this project.’

We recently saw a New York Times journalist wearing a set of Valve AR goggles. What’s your take on wearable computing? Gabe has spoken a lot about the idea previously, and it seems that others are going down that route too. We saw patents from Microsoft for example.

It’s super-cool. It’s more that we’re just looking at the future and making sure that we’re prepared, trying to understand how everything will work, what the limitations are, and what problems could we run in to.

If you’re not playing around with ideas in that space already you’re going to be really behind the game. So yeah we’ve started playing around with it, and there’s a whole bunch of stuff the hardware guys are just goofing around with and having some fun with.

I’m trying to imagine what their office looks like and all I’m seeing is an ungodly mess of wires and spare parts.

Yeah, it’s full of multiple rooms with crazy little devices, as well as a ton of pinball machines that they brought into work. We had to re-power one part of the office because we didn’t have enough power for all the pinball machines to always be on. You’re never too far from a pinball machine in our offices.

Are you mindful that the industry has tried to sell wearable hardware to people before in virtual reality, which of course didn’t take off? Is there a danger of that happening again?

It’s just like anything else, I mean, I was a naysayer on smartphones being as small as they were. But I love it.

It’s an exciting time though because nobody – save a select few – really knows what’s going to happen further down the line.

Yeah you just have to see what’s out there. But yeah the VR stuff is definitely something people are looking at.

Let’s talk about software now. Counter-Strike just launched on consoles recently. It’s predominantly been a PC franchise, so how has the console audience reacted to it?

Yeah its been great. I mean I get things like sniping is harder on the 360 than in the PC version and all of that, but it’s still the same gamers. From when we’ve been showing the game publicly, you see people pick up a controller and they’re like, ‘oh yeah, I remember this game.’

It’s neat that they can still remember it and just jump back into the competition, and I think that has helped it become super-successful. It’s just really popular.

You have DotA 2 as well. How is development going as you move closer to a full launch? The reaction has been impressive so far.

Yeah, its funny because at the International tournament, everyone at Valve volunteers and helps out. Just sitting there and watching people play at the event, when we get back to work everyone’s just playing it so much more and we get re-energised for it. It’s intense and it’s fun.

So many people are bringing out or working on MOBAs now as well. Is that validation of the game’s popularity?

Yeah it’s weird because if you look at DotA 2 compared to CS:GO – they’re just so different, but it’s a format that more people are starting to enjoy.

People always ask a lot of questions of Valve as it’s a studio they’re keen to know more about and again, your employee handbook leak gave us a clearer view on the company’s culture. What was your reaction to that?

It was great and we’re happy to have fun with that sort of stuff. it’s kind of a weird thing where the HR person looks like a tough monster but really she’s very nice.

Valve is very similar to Rockstar Games in that you don’t over-hype your products. You talk about them when you’re good and ready, or when games are finally in a presentable state. Why is that important?

Telling people a game is great will sell one extra copy. Letting people play the game – Left 4 Dead is a good example – is much better. All of our pre-release stuff is designed to just let people play it.

We just let the game speak for itself because the internet has made this thing where, you can’t pull the wool over people’s eyes any more. They’re going to know you’re hyping.

But when a game does really well at pre-release, they’re going to know that you’re not just talking a bunch of PR crap. I mean, the Left 4 Dead series has now sold over 12 million copies.

That’s amazingly cool, and that wasn’t because I was out there like, ‘Oh my god! This game is amazing! Buy it!’ Seeing Counter-Strike be the number one PSN title was awesome, and you know it’s just because of people reacting to the game.

And with Left 4 Dead you collaborated with the Payday: The Heist guys recently on the No Mercy map. How did that come about?

We’re fans of their work and the guys are great. We got to hang out with a bunch of them at E3, which was awesome, and it happened more just through hanging out. They’re fun guys and it just seemed like a really fun little thing to do, so yeah, it’s just another little thing we decided to do and have fun with.

Black Mesa Source. Have you played it? What do you think?
Yeah it’s cool because there’s so many memories that just come flooding back. The last time I played Half-Life was before we worked on Half-Life 2: Episode Two.

There’s that bit where you’re walking around the White Forest base and there are scientists talking to you, saying the same things from the start of the original Half-Life. That was an inside joke, but I hadn’t played it since Black Mesa Source, so it’s cool to go back, plus it has excellent graphics that’s for sure.

I can’t imagine a world where Activision say, would allow a fan remake of Call of Duty 4. That would get shot down the second the first screenshot went out. Why is it important to be that open and to allow people to do things like Black Mesa Source?

Why wouldn’t we? But I guess you’d have to convince me of the benefits to the other side, because to me, this feels like pretty common sense.

It’s mainly companies protecting their interests and blocking anything that could tarnish the reputation of their products.

Well let’s say that Black Mesa Source turned out horrible. It’s not going to hurt the original Half-Life.

Because it still remains.

Yeah exactly, and it’s interesting to play and to see what parts they kept the same and in what ways they went in and changed things.

Let’s go back to the early days, particularly when you joined just after Half-Life 2. What was the company like then?

Well yeah, I started right after they shipped Half-Life 2, and one of my most terrifying moments was during my three-day interview, where I was just hanging out there. I was sitting there with Gabe behind me while I was playing Half-Life 2, and I got stuck.

I kept getting motion sickness from this one TV there that gave people motion sickness, and I was tired and we were trying to figure out If I was was going to take the job at Valve or not – which sounds weird I know – and Gabe was just there behind me as I was just stuck. So much pressure. I felt stupid.

What was your first day on the job like? I imagine that adapting to Valve’s open way of working must have been a weird challenge.

I told Gabe he was full of shit.

What?

Yeah [laughs]. I told him he was full of shit and I was saying ‘there’s no way the company works this way.’

But then you started to understand it and get into the groove?

Yeah it was weird and there is is this adjustment period before you realise that yeah, you really can just go off and work on something you want. But the thing is, again, we hire people who understand that they can work on they want, but that thing is always going to be what is most valuable to the company, or what you think should be the most valuable thing to the company.

It’s not like, ‘I’m going to go make this crazy thing that does nothing and has no value.’ You’re going to think of the right thing to make. We all talk to each other, and everyone wants to be doing the right things.

You hire a lot of talented people into that system, and again, you guys are keen on helping people become developers. Would you say the educational routes to the industry are getting clearer and increasingly viable?

Go to university if that’s what you need. I don’t think that’s what everyone needs. But to make something, you don’t necessarily need a four-year degree to do that.

If you come out of a four-year course and you haven’t made anything, then you’re coming out at a point of weakness. You’re just another resumé to throw in the trash. You’ve got to just do it yourself, and you do that by creating something.

That is becoming easier now thanks to cheaper engines like Unity. I mean, I couldn’t just walk into a shop and buy Unreal Engine 3. That’s just not accessible for budding developers.

Yeah, or you could just make an item for Team Fortress 2, a mod or anything. There’s a bunch of things you could do as long as you’re excited by your work. Once you’re excited about your work, you will want to succeed. That’s how you get noticed now. It’s silly not to be doing something.

So prototyping is advisable?

Yeah, but you could just make a mod, or small game. There are probably guys out there who just thought they were going to make an indie game, showcased it, and them became a developer.

Does Valve prototype a lot? Do you have to scrap a lot of things?

We dabble in experimentation. That’s how we work things out, so yeah.

I imagine that few studios have as much room to experiment as Valve does, thanks to its open approach. The thought of working at a big studio with zero room for creativity sounds like hell to me.

Yeah, but what people forget is, Valve only has this opportunity because we’ve always done this. You get creative by always having that freedom to begin with, but you also need focus. You have to have one to have the other, but you have to do it all-in.

What happens when you do acquire a studio or individual in that regard? Can they still change direction and work on whatever they want, or do you encourage them to play to their strengths?

Well yeah, they can do either. They find out themselves how they can be valuable.

Finally I’d just like to touch on Steam. It’s big, it’s not going away any time soon, but it does have increasing competition from GOG, Origin, and others. What’s your take on that market?

Competition is good because it just makes us better. We’ve got a bunch of stuff we’re working on and it’s what we think we want to do from the point of view that, ‘we play games. What would make our lives better?’ You need that kind of scope on it.

Can you tell us more about any of those new ideas?

Just a whole bunch of stuff, and some it just came out. We’re just always refining it. We reviewed the entire community system and how that works. It went from something that we knew we needed to change to this cool thing.

We just have to keep refining and working on it, and with those community features in particular, the shock was just the way people reacted to it. Some people didn’t like it at first, but they get it now, so it’s all about just building on our ideas.

Can you give us a timeframe on when Big Picture mode will launch?

There’s three things that can change when you’re shipping something. You can either give a project more time, put more people on it, or release something of lesser quality.

So not number three then?

We’re going to do something where we’re not worried about the time. So when it ships, it ships.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/09/28/valve-interview-i-just-told-gabe-he-was-full-of-shit/feed/33L4D2 DLC based on Cabin in the Woods was planned at one timehttp://www.vg247.com/2012/09/22/l4d2-dlc-based-on-cabin-in-the-woods-was-planned-at-one-time/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/09/22/l4d2-dlc-based-on-cabin-in-the-woods-was-planned-at-one-time/#commentsSat, 22 Sep 2012 19:56:41 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=300048Left 4 Dead 2 had some DLC planned at one time based on the films Cabin in the Woods, according to the movie’s director Drew Goddard.

“We actually were going to do a downloadable L4D2 expansion pack, where you’d fight in the Cabin world, but then MGM went bankrupt so the delay squashed it,” he said. “But the people at Valve were still cool enough to let us use some of their monsters to fill the cubes in the background (I had a lot of cubes to fill.)

“By the way — the game was gonna be amazing. You were gonna be able to play in both the upstairs “Cabin in the Woods” world and the downstairs “facility” world with all the monsters.

“Believe me, I HATE all video games based on movies, they always suck, but porting Cabin into Left For Dead felt like the right fit. It pains me that it didn’t happen.”

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/09/22/l4d2-dlc-based-on-cabin-in-the-woods-was-planned-at-one-time/feed/4Steam Workshop support coming to Left 4 Dead 2http://www.vg247.com/2012/09/21/steam-workshop-support-coming-to-left-4-dead-2/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/09/21/steam-workshop-support-coming-to-left-4-dead-2/#commentsFri, 21 Sep 2012 15:44:31 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=299895Left 4 Dead 2 is getting Steam Workshop support as well as an “expanded scripting tool” so folks can create “deeper and more varied experiences inside of Left 4 Dead 2.” These features are planned for Linux users,” and will start in the middle of next month. More information is available through the Left 4 Dead blog. Thanks, PC Gamer.
]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/09/21/steam-workshop-support-coming-to-left-4-dead-2/feed/2Payday: The Heist getting Left 4 Dead’s “No Mercy” maphttp://www.vg247.com/2012/06/16/payday-the-heist-getting-left-4-deads-no-mercy-map/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/06/16/payday-the-heist-getting-left-4-deads-no-mercy-map/#commentsSat, 16 Jun 2012 13:27:41 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=270153It looks as though the Overkill and Valve cross-over project with left 4 Dead undertones is the No Mercy map.

According to a video posted by Overkill, and hastily removed, the video shows the bank robbers from Payday: The Heist inside the hospital from the first L4D campaign.

Speaking with Kotaku, Valve’s Chet Faliszek said players will see one of the L4D characters in the hospital and a “fun little easter egg with a payoff later in Left 4 Dead.”

Faliszek said this was Valve “having some fun with a studio we are friends with and who have also made a great co-op game.”

“This is a 100% Overkill made mission for Payday: Heist simply set in no mercy hospital from the Left 4 Dead series,” he said. “It is not telling the origins of the Infection and is not canon.

As mentioned above, the video was removed, but not before someone else pulled it. Watch it below.

A released date for the map hasn’t been announced.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/06/16/payday-the-heist-getting-left-4-deads-no-mercy-map/feed/6Valve: No L4D prequel coming from Overkillhttp://www.vg247.com/2012/06/08/valve-no-l4d-prequel-coming-from-overkill/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/06/08/valve-no-l4d-prequel-coming-from-overkill/#commentsFri, 08 Jun 2012 14:19:59 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=268189Valve’s Chet Faliszek has confirmed to PCGamesN in an interview it and Overkill are working on a collaboration, but not a L4D prequel as reported yesterday.

“I want to make sure that people don’t think the prequel is coming,” he told the site at E3.

“Those guys are still making Payday: The Heist, we’re still making Left 4 Dead. We’re trying to be a little coy and a little fun because we want the communities to discover the collaboration for themselves.”

It was rumoured yesterday that Overkill and Valve were working together on a prequel that told the events of the L4D universe before the zombie outbreak.

Consider that rumour culled.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/06/08/valve-no-l4d-prequel-coming-from-overkill/feed/3Overkill working with Valve on “in-depth” Payday/Left 4 Dead “collaboration”http://www.vg247.com/2012/05/21/overkill-working-with-valve-on-in-depth-paydayleft-4-dead-collaboration/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/05/21/overkill-working-with-valve-on-in-depth-paydayleft-4-dead-collaboration/#commentsMon, 21 May 2012 08:22:24 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=260423Overkill Entertianment has announced it’s working with Valve on what it calls an “in-depth collaboration” involving Payday: The Heist and Left 4 Dead.

Hints of the crossover started creeping into Payday: The Heist, but today came official confirmation.

“As perceptive gamers will have noticed, several hints have recently been dropped into Payday The Heist, which has led to various rumors,” said studio game director Ulf Andersson.

“We are excited to be able to confirm that an in-depth collaboration between Overkill and Valve is currently in production.

“We are working on a very cool blend of PAYDAY and Left 4 Dead. I am sure it is so exciting that it will have some players check into the hospital before we are done.”

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/02/25/get-your-hands-on-a-ife-sized-portal-gun-this-summer/feed/4Valve titles appear on Impulsehttp://www.vg247.com/2012/01/31/valve-titles-appear-on-impulse/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/01/31/valve-titles-appear-on-impulse/#commentsTue, 31 Jan 2012 14:27:27 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=230173RPS has noted that Valve has made its games available on GameStop download service Impulse. The marketplace, which was owned by Stardock up until last year when it was bought by GameStop, now has five titles from the company: Portal 2, The Half-Life Complete Collection, Left 4 Dead 1 + 2 and The Orange Box, all of which end up requiring Steam activation anyways. Still, your options on where to buy Valve games has become more broader now.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/01/31/valve-titles-appear-on-impulse/feed/5Left 4 Dead Boomer action figure is grotesquehttp://www.vg247.com/2011/12/17/left-4-dead-boomer-action-figure-is-grotesque/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/12/17/left-4-dead-boomer-action-figure-is-grotesque/#commentsSat, 17 Dec 2011 15:59:35 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=222862But some people are apparently into that sort of thing. The level of detail on this figure is incredible, and we really can’t imagine who would want to have this on display in their home/office. But in this case it’s a sort of horrifying beauty. Full picture after the break.
]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/12/17/left-4-dead-boomer-action-figure-is-grotesque/feed/3Valve and Dark Horse team up for Steam-Powered Stories hardcover comic collectionhttp://www.vg247.com/2011/10/05/valve-and-dark-horse-team-up-for-steam-powered-stories-hardbook-comic/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/10/05/valve-and-dark-horse-team-up-for-steam-powered-stories-hardbook-comic/#commentsWed, 05 Oct 2011 19:34:30 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=207224Valve and Dark Horse have announced a hardcover collection of comics based on the worlds of Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress, and Portal. The comic, which contains over two hundred pages of story, is titled: Valve Presents: The Sacrifice and other Steam-Powered Stories, and is to be made available on November 16. You can pre-order it here, and have a look at the cover below.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/08/30/tuesday-shorts-ii-gears-3-controller-left-4-dead-gunstringer-demo-the-kore-gang/feed/0Portal 2 PC sold better than console SKU, says Valvehttp://www.vg247.com/2011/08/30/portal-2-pc-sold-better-than-console-sku-says-valve/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/08/30/portal-2-pc-sold-better-than-console-sku-says-valve/#commentsTue, 30 Aug 2011 06:23:06 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=199259Valve boss Gabe Newell has said that sales of Portal 2 were better on PC than they were on either 360 or PS3.

While the 360 version was only a vanilla version of the game of sorts, the PS3 version included Steamworks support, including cloud save, cross-platform play and Steam achievements.

But Newell, speaking to Gamasutra, admitted that Left 4 Dead was one Valve series it had seen sell better on console than PC. The series has only appeared on 360 to date in terms of consoles.

“We can never predict; I mean we just try to build good games and then we tend to be surprised,” he said when asked about a mindshare strategy for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

“Portal 2 did better on the PC than it did on the consoles; Left 4 Dead did better on the consoles than it did on the PC. So you know we don’t try to guess, because we’re not sure what value there is to guessing. We’ve never had a situation where we said, ‘We really, really want to build something that is more popular for the console guys.’

“Because usually we have a bunch of other higher priority problems we want to solve. So we’re glad that people want to play our games wherever they want to play.”

Valve are kneedeep in development on DOTA 2 and Counter Strike GO, both of which are due to kick off with betas later this year and a full release next year.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/08/30/portal-2-pc-sold-better-than-console-sku-says-valve/feed/37L4D2: If 60,000 earn Connecting Fights achievement, Blood Harvest beta gets unlocked earlyhttp://www.vg247.com/2011/08/06/l4d2-if-60000-earn-connecting-fights-achievement-blood-harvest-beta-gets-unlocked-early/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/08/06/l4d2-if-60000-earn-connecting-fights-achievement-blood-harvest-beta-gets-unlocked-early/#commentsSat, 06 Aug 2011 16:00:37 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=192221Valve’s added an updated version of the original Left 4 Dead Terminal Map for Dead Air into Left 4 Dead 2, and it is handing out an incentive to test it for bugs and the like. This incentive will come in the form of an achievement called Connecting Fights, which is earned by playing a complete game of Versus in Dead Air. What’s more, once 60,000 people earn the achievement, Valve will unlock the beta version of Blood Harvest on Steam the following weekday. Think of it as the same as with the Dead Air incentive, only instead of the goal being 20,000, Valve has added and extra 40,000 on top of it. Get to work. Thanks, Shack.
]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/08/06/l4d2-if-60000-earn-connecting-fights-achievement-blood-harvest-beta-gets-unlocked-early/feed/9